Chapter 1542: Chapter 269: Scales of Good and Evil (Part 3)

At night, in the desert, they set up a camp where there were sand dunes, waiting for the night to pass. Yet, the desert sky at night was so beautiful, dreamlike, that they couldn’t help but sit before the campfire, looking up at the vastness of the stars.

“I heard that in the universe, this little broken ball is nothing, really just a little broken ball, right, Mr. Xie Jiatu?”

The desert guide Aria came up at this time.

Professor Xie Jiatu was sitting in front of his tent curtain, brewing a cup of coffee, enjoying the tranquility of the moment. Beside him was another tent, belonging to Mr. Golden Eyes.

He only found this Xie Jiatu fellow pleasing to the eye… Of course, the exception was the guy next to him called Golden Eyes, because they had already worked together several times before this—Aria thought.

The reason why he found this Xie Jiatu person pleasing was naturally because Mr. Xie Jiatu was friendly and gave him many little trinkets, including a nice bottle of wine from Britain.

Aria loved drinking, and didn’t plan to take the bottle out of the desert, so he prepared to finish it that night.

“The world we can see with our eyes is indeed very small,” Professor Xie Jiatu said with a slight smile, “But this smallness is something people can’t truly experience in their lifetime… Many times, we can only imagine.”

Aria seemed to be quite interested in things beyond, chatting idly with Mr. Xie Jiatu—he actually felt that most of the crew on this trip to the desert were eccentric folks, even that Golden Eyes, whom he’d worked with a few times, didn’t have such a good temperament.

Of course, Mr. Golden Eyes was someone who always had money—this alone was enough.

“Mr. Xie Jiatu, are you married? At this age, you should have kids, right?” Aria lay on the sand, slightly tipsy.

“I’m not married, but I have a daughter,” Professor Xie Jiatu smiled slightly, “Her name is Claudia, my most beloved daughter.”

“She must be a beautiful little girl,” Aria said with some envy, “I also want to have a family and a daughter, but unfortunately, no woman is willing to be with me.”

Professor Xie Jiatu looked at him, curious, and asked, “Why do you wish to have a daughter?”

Locally, women’s status was relatively… in areas primarily using men as labor, Aria’s thoughts were quite unconventional.

Aria answered without thinking, “Having a boy is so tough! When he grows up, you’ll have to worry about his marriage, which costs a lot of money! A daughter is different; when she gets married, I can receive a lot of money… But I don’t have money!”

Professor Xie Jiatu was obviously quite startled by Aria’s way of thinking… He began to seriously scrutinize Aria, as if pondering something, though he suddenly murmured to himself, “A man loyal to his desires.”

“Don’t mind this guy,” said a man who called himself Mr. Golden Eyes, walking over, “Once he drinks a few sips, he starts grumbling about life… All his money goes to support the village.”

“The village?” Professor Xie Jiatu was stunned, looking at Aria again, finding him already asleep, hugging his wine bottle, snoring away.

“Just some old people, women, and children left,” Golden Eyes casually sat down—holding a kettle in his hand, coffee brewing inside.

Mr. Golden Eyes refilled Professor Xie Jiatu’s cup with some coffee, then calmly said, “Most of the men in the village have gone out. Some work as desert guides and die in the desert. Others work elsewhere, initially sending money back, but eventually, no news came. The village ended with him being the only young workforce left.”

Professor Xie Jiatu smiled slightly, “No wonder when we were discussing how to enter the desert, you suggested hiring him as a guide.”

Mr. Golden Eyes calmly said, “No, I suggested using him, not because of his situation, but because he is indeed the best guide nearby… For me, he is the best guide; it just so happens his situation is unique.”

Professor Xie Jiatu nodded, “Everyone has their own way of living.”

Mr. Golden Eyes curiously asked, “Then what’s your way of life… being the only one among us who insists on using your original name?”

“Seeking truth,” Professor Xie Jiatu calmly said, “Names for humans are more than just symbols. You know, in many ancient myths and legends, names possess incredible power.”

“You mean… a true name?” Golden Eyes furrowed his brow, instinctively amused, “But where do people get true names.”

Professor Xie Jiatu shook his head, “The power of a name isn’t in what it gives you, but in letting you know who you really are… that person deep in your heart.”

Mr. Golden Eyes remained silent, holding the cup with hot coffee, feeling the passage of time, “And you, who is the person deep inside you really?”

He suddenly asked.

Professor Xie Jiatu smiled slightly, “Myself, the current me.”

Mr. Golden Eyes looked deeply at Professor Xie Jiatu, thought for a while, and said, “Otto, my name is Otto.”

“Surname?” Professor Xie Jiatu asked curiously.

“Only that name,” Mr. Golden Eyes… Mr. Otto said calmly.

Professor Xie Jiatu thought for a moment, “Family, relatives… Abandoning your surname means abandoning these, can you bear it.”

“There’s nothing to bear or not bear…” Mr. Otto smiled calmly, “When you have sixty-nine brothers and each of them wants the others dead, I guess you wouldn’t want to take pride in a surname.”

Professor Xie Jiatu opened his mouth in astonishment.

At this time, the drunken Aria suddenly sat up, brandished his wine bottle drunkenly, and shouted, “Long live the US dollar… long live…”

He then fell back to sleep, snoring, mumbling about long live… long live the money.

“Perhaps this way of living isn’t so bad,” Mr. Otto suddenly said, “At least, it’s simpler, with fewer complications.”

“I’m starting to take an interest in him,” Professor Xie Jiatu smiled slightly.

“He would be interested in your money,” Mr. Otto remarked with indifference.

They exchanged a knowing smile.

Only then did Professor Xie Jiatu slowly say, “We cannot feel the smallness of this world, which is so vast in the eyes of mortals… Destiny is a giant wheel that can crush all lives, and when it comes, you simply cannot resist it. Only in the eyes of gods, both mortals and the world are small.”

Perhaps, it is truly like this… Mr. Otto thought in his heart—no, it definitely is like this.

Because he has seen… seen the god.

…

…

The Lamp God—the red figure, its hideous red-faced visage, and the flames burning on its body… These flames are actually not hot because he had touched them with his own hands… a long, long time ago.

Guardian Otto stared blankly at the screen on the metal wall—but the image on the screen quickly turned into an expanse of black. Because of that strange hawk-headed humanoid creature… which was furiously pounding on the huge door where the High Priest had departed.

The immense power must have shattered the circuits inside the metal wall, rendering the screen unable to continue functioning.

This hawk-headed humanoid creature seems to be the transformed Pharaoh of the Kingdom—according to the image records previously reviewed by the High Priest, that is indeed the case.

Furthermore, Guardian Otto could confirm one thing, that is the sudden mutation of this Pharaoh of the Kingdom was completely beyond the High Priest’s own expectations.

A small pebble suddenly rolled to Guardian’s feet from behind, interrupting his thoughts… He turned around to see Yiben, who was always hiding outside, now waving forcefully at him and whispering urgently: “Go! Hurry up! It’s dangerous! Do you seriously intend to fight this terrifying thing… You’ll die for sure! You will really die!”

Guardian Otto looked around at the room. The power supply had stopped because of the hawk-headed monster’s collisions, he didn’t know if the electromagnetic field around the square outside the Miniature Temple had failed?

“Let’s go.”

Guardian Otto prepared his sword defensively against the frenzied hawk-headed humanoid creature, while quickly moving to join Yiben—the High Priest’s wish seemed to be falling through, that hawk-headed creature was completely uninterested in Guardian.

“Where to?” Yiben asked hurriedly.

Guardian Otto directly replied: “To the square to see if weapons can be taken up… Since the appearance of this hawk-headed monster has made the High Priest flustered, then let’s throw this Royal Palace… let it fall into total chaos!”

Saying this, Guardian Otto pulled out a box the size of half a palm from his clothing… With a cold sneer, without thinking, he pressed one of the buttons on the box.

“This… what is this?” Yiben instinctively felt a kind of danger approaching, couldn’t help but ask tremulously.

Guardian Otto sneered at this moment: “A timed bomb! I brought some before entering the desert, as a precaution… Alas, it’s finally coming in handy.”

Yiben… Yiben blinked his eyes. At this moment, the information appearing in his mind wasn’t what the so-called timed bomb actually does, but… why would this guy bring such things when entering the desert??

“So… so this bomb thing?” Yiben asked instinctively.

Guardian Otto responded indifferently: “Princess Ann of the City of the Sun is probably a character with a research spirit. She has an independent lab in the Royal Palace… Of course, this shouldn’t have been hidden from the High Priest either. But for some reason, even though the High Priest clearly knows, he still tacitly approved what the Princess is doing.”

“And then?”

Guardian Otto directly said: “In the innermost part of this lab, a giant beast is hidden… and it’s a living, breathing giant beast. I simply opened the cage that trapped this beast.”

Yiben suddenly slapped his own forehead at this moment and realized, “So that’s what it is, meaning that a giant beast will appear soon in the Royal Palace… Oh! Mr. Guardian, you’re really full of evil plans… What!! A giant beast!!”

Oh my!——!!

“I just need a way out.” Guardian Otto said indifferently: “The life and death of the City of the Sun’s residents are none of my concern… That’s how I live. If you don’t want to die, then follow me… I’ll guide you out of here.”

“I’ll follow you… even to death, I’ll follow you, Mr. Guardian!” Yiben said without thinking: “With you, I can get wealth! Death doesn’t scare me… preferably not dying!”

The room… began to collapse.

The hawk-headed humanoid creature, at this moment, didn’t merely stick to physical collisions—it even opened its mouth, spitting out blue-white rays… In an instant, the rays penetrated the surrounding metal walls!

“Xie Jiatu… what exactly are you hiding here?”

Guardian couldn’t help but take a deep breath, grabbed Yiben with one hand, and dashed out of there.

…

One metal door after another opened in front of the High Priest… Beyond each of these automatic doors was a seemingly endless corridor.

He suddenly stopped, but the metal door ahead didn’t continue to open… The High Priest turned a direction, opened the metal wall beside him, and walked in—turns out it was an elevator leading to the underground.

The elevator descended all the way, reaching the deepest part of the entire Temple… Silently watching everything unfold on the screen configured inside the elevator.

“Who on earth awakened it…” The High Priest’s brows furrowed deeper than ever, “Horus…”

The High Priest’s body suddenly jolted… the elevator had reached the end, and stopped—he quickly walked out of the elevator.

In front was a long metal staircase… At the bottom of the metal staircase was a gigantic, blue luminescent pool!

The metal staircase extended all the way to a platform in the center of this giant pool—and upon this platform, there was a tall pedestal.

And right on top of this pedestal, a golden balance was quietly placed.

The High Priest finished walking down the staircase and reached the platform… He casually looked at the pool water beneath himself, then directly walked towards the pedestal.

Behind him, within the pool emanating a faint blue gleam, there were faces… Faces with closed eyes, floating just beneath the water’s surface!

No.

Not faces, but people with eyes closed, submerged in this pool…